Mahou Shoujo DC
by Zevenon
Summary: Lima's research , and carelessness, has lead to unleashing a strange power among her and her fellow DC Ladies. Now sharing a common bond, the girls must learn to live with their new abilities as Lima searches for a cure. Still, how will they deal with their newfound power, new challenges, and more importantly, each other? ( ON HIATUS )
1. Prologue-Welcome to Our World

**Prologue: Welcome to our world**

In light of recent events, I've taken the responsibility of recording this unfolding story in our lives. It is only fitting seeing as this entire situation is my fault. Perhaps If I told Rasa about my extra research, or took more care to cover my bases so Tan wouldn't be on our tail… Perhaps then this whole situation would have never had happened in the first place. My curiosity, as well as my carelessness, had managed to affect the lives of these girls. Now, will you hear their stories?

- LIMA


	2. Beginnings

There's a certain feeling one has when they are passionate about something. It drives them to do things many others wouldn't, go farther than they ever expected they could go. With that in mind, I can't help but think my passion led to all this. I certainly wouldn't have gone looking for all this trouble on purpose. It found me…or should I say: it found us …

As a scientist, I thirst for knowledge. Since my younger years I've been fascinated with the more abstract concepts in our universe. My favorite subject to ponder? Time. The passing of years, the endless cycle of day and night down to the very ticking of a clock and those precious seconds that affects all of us whether we know it or not. Even with the time machine, My curiosity wasn't sated. I needed to know more.

There was many a time I'd stay behind at work just for research. It seemed like a standard night when this all started. I was looking over at some files Rasa needed me to see… While doing some 'tests' of my own.

Since our 'incident' involving Tan and the time stream, the time machine hadn't been used. After all, what for? The world of dance was at peace, so there was no reason for anyone to use it. It was that very peace that lead me to frustration. I wanted to know more about the time stream, but in order to do any sort of research for such a thing, I'd have to get Rasa involved. I do care for him, but sadly if he had known my research would have been curbed. Perhaps it would have been better if I had told him, But the past is in the past.

I had been digging into the time stream for a while by this time. I was finding all sorts of new things… Little did I know what I would find that night would change lives, including mine, forever.

- For the longest time I've been poking into the time stream (avoiding the good doctor, of course) looking for something. Anything that I could find really. The hunger I had to know more of the flow of time itself drove me into breaking the barriers of what mere mortals should know about it. Sometimes there are just some things man was never meant to see

Me? It just so happened I managed to stumble upon such a thing.

It was brilliant; a mass of energy snapped and sparked within the machine. It glowed brilliantly within the otherwise dark lab I was in, covering the walls with flecks of color. In the months I had spent observing the time stream, nothing like this had ever appeared before. 'Excitement' didn't cover the feeling I had at the time.

To this day I'm still not sure what compelled me to do what I did next. Was it my natural curiosity as a human being? A brief moment of stupidity in my astonishment? The idea I'd quench that burning thirst for knowledge I had in my body? Hell, It could have even been destiny itself. Whatever caused it, it would change everything I knew.

I touched the damn thing.


	3. Starts

Let me tell you, that was probably one of the stupidest things as a scientist I've ever done. Touching an unidentified mass of energy unprotected should have turned out bad. Really bad. There are certain procedures one must take before interacting with any unknown substance. Given the fact I had blatantly ignored those procedures in my research, I guess It would have served me right if Rasa had came back to work the next day and I was nothing more than a pile of sludge with eyes on the ground. Luckily for me fate seemed to have a different idea. The lab? Not so much

That's about the time all hell broke loose.

The energy burst, rays of light bouncing off the walls. I could do nothing more as I watched the lab break apart around me as the energy beams took their course. It was surreal, all the debris falling around me as if I was in slow motion. I was amazed I wasn't being hit by the rubble. Then it occurred to me.

Time had indeed slowed down around me, but not for me.

I walked forward, watching in awe as everything around me floated down. I pushed pieces of rubble away from me as they hung in the air. It was nothing short of amazing. Still, I had broken the lab, and Rasa wouldn't believe a dance crime could have totaled all our high tech equipment. On top of all that I was stuck in time. Perhaps this is what Dr. Tan felt like right now? As I lamented my situation I noticed something falling in front of me. It looked nothing like the rubble surrounding it, shining among the mess I managed to make. I took a few steps forward, getting a closer look.

It was an ornate silver pocket watch. I had no clue as to where it came from, but I felt compelled to hold it in my hands. I gave it a look over. It seemed like an ordinary clock. I pushed the button and debris began to rain down, time resuming its flow around me as normal. I stood bewildered in the middle of the now ruined lab. What in the world DID I find? I looked to the watch in worry. While I was distracted, the other seven beams of energy had flown off. At first I thought they had dissolved, but their real whereabouts…?

Well, I wouldn't be alone in this mess, at the very least.

Now, about that mess I had made of the lab…

- LIMA


	4. Feeling the Burn

Feeling the Burn

My body felt like it was on fire.

Normally when I work out that's a good thing. This felt… different. Like I literally felt like there was some sort of heat spreading throughout my body. I didn't pay too much attention to it at first… took some aspirin, thought it was a cold and called it a day. Yet as the days went by it just kept growing. I finally checked my temperature on the third day. At the number I was at I should have been dying, but as far as anything went I felt perfectly normal except just… warmer.

Eventually though, it had climbed to the point where I felt tired no matter what I did. Even something that came as naturally to me as dancing had become difficult for me to keep up with. Frustration grew in me, and I did what came naturally: Smack the ever-loving crap out of my punching bag.

As each of my hits connected with my punching bag, I felt as if my muscles were burning more than they should have… and why did it smell as if something was burning in the room…?

- EMILIA


	5. Rolling in the Deep

This was SO not how I wanted my day to go.

We were supposed to go up against a lesser known crew that afternoon. I was ready to assert my dominance (Because really, we all know who's top dog here. Don't you dare say it's those glittering freaks either); the weather told us otherwise. There was no way we were going to dance on the yacht during a storm advisory. Angel and I were already securing the boat at the dock when it started to drizzle. By the time we were almost done, a full on downpour had started.

" Mi Reina," Angel called out through the rain. " We need more rope over here. I'll go get some below deck." He disappeared downstairs as I continued tying up anything that could have been damaged. I found it harder and harder to stand on deck as the waves grew. From a young age I had always had sea-legs according to my parents. I guess that sense of balance helped me out on the yacht most of the time. Too bad this time wasn't like most of the time.

I didn't even have time to scream as a wave knocked me off deck.

The thing about water is as pretty as it is, it can be dark, dangerous, and in this case, deadly. I felt the icy water flow around me as I was pulled under by the waves. The storm tossed me about. I felt nothing but panic and dread. Even If I screamed, there was little chance of Angel hearing me over the rain. Fighting the current was out of the question as well; I'd just tire myself out even more. I wanted to cry as I waited for the ocean to take me and drown.

But… Why wasn't I drowning….?

I opened my eyes, was… Was I breathing underwater? I watched as bubbles floated in front of me. I felt like I was breathing in fresh air as opposed to the frigid sea around me. What in the world was happening?

I managed to swim up to the surface, trying to calm myself down. I heard a familiar and at this point much-welcomed voice. " AUBREY!" Angel yelled out my name. I managed to see him with a life saver. " AUBREY! GRAB ON!" He tossed it towards me, luckily landing a few inches away. I gasped for air as I swam towards it. In a few quick minutes Angel managed to pull me safely back to the yacht.

" Aubrey! Are you alright?! You could have drowned!" I felt distant. " Y-yeah…" Angel swore as another wave splashed upon the deck. " C'mon, Princessa. Let's get you somewhere safer." He picked me up, and ushered me below deck. One blanket and a cup of hot chocolate later and I was sitting in the lounge below. Angel had the first aid kit with him, taking care to check for any injuries I might have had. " Geez, You were lucky today, Mi Reina… Luckily I found that rope when I did or you could have been a goner."

Angel was right. I could have drowned. My mind snapped back to the 'incident'. Normal people aren't able to breathe underwater. Something was up, and I wanted to know what it was.

But first, hot chocolate and a stylist. A girl needs pampering after going through that mess.

- AUBREY


	6. Growing Pains

I was tired of this!

To get the record straight, while I can't get straight A's like a certain Hi-Def prodigy without working my butt off, I put my all into whatever I can do. Right now though? My all didn't seem to be helping me out with this stupid science project.

Everyone and their grandma in my class seemed to be doing something like a baking soda volcano or something like that. I wanted to try something different, so I decided to do something I heard about: Seeing how plants grow with music playing or talking to them. Simple, and I dance with my speakers blaring half the time, so why not.

It was one of the dumbest decisions I've made in my short life.

These plants just wouldn't grow! I did everything I could: Water, Sunlight, I even blew my allowance on some lousy plant food! The music didn't seem to be affecting these things, and whatever I said to them fell upon deaf ears… Or leaves… Or whatever! Plants can't even hear! Peeved didn't even cover what I was feeling right now.

If there's something Taye always warned me about, it was about me losing my temper. I'm downright mean when I'm upset, and I'm not afraid to show it. Given the combination of issues I had that week, from exams and drama-llama crud at school to simply having not eaten anything since breakfast, these sprouts were the last straw.

" AUUGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" I growled. " I HATE THIS STUPID FREAKING PROJECT! WHY WON'T YOU GROW YOU STUPID PLANTS!?"

Little did I know my prayers would be answered. Too bad I was too busy screaming to react properly.

The tiny plant began growing at a ridiculously fast rate. What was a stem with leaves in front of me soon became a full-on tree. 'Shock' didn't even cover it. I did what came naturally.

I screamed again.

Lil T


	7. Bringing the Metal

Bringing the Metal

I had been feeling real weird for a while now

I thought at first it was because I didn't stretch out after our crew showdown with Hi-Def the other day. My muscles felt stiff, so I thought I'd take a break and give myself a little TLC. As soon as I recovered I'd be right back up on my toes and dancing. I've had muscle pains before after a good throw down, but this felt different. Almost like I felt kind of… I dunno, heavier? As if there was some sort of weight on my body. I thought maybe I was getting sick, so I decided to stay home for the night and hang out with T. She had a school project to do, so I decided I'd just chill and cook us dinner. I was staring at the TV screen (there wasn't anything to watch, really) when I heard a shriek come from T's room. She sounded beyond pissed.

I sighed. " TIA!" I yelled from the couch. " I've told you to watch your temper, girl! We have neighbors!" I heard the screams continue, but they sounded different from the previous ones. Anger seemed to be replacing something else entirely. I've heard T's yells before when she was angry… This was like when we would marathon horror movies… Or like when she had nightmares of those pale primadramas…

T never yelled like that unless it was serious.

I jumped up from the couch, getting myself a knife from the kitchen. I rushed upstairs towards T's room, a million thoughts racing through my head. Was there someone or something inside of her room? How did they get there without us noticing? My heart raced as I pushed open the door. " T? What's going on-"

I think I was a shocked as she was

T was perfectly fine, which calmed me down. Behind her a TREE of all things sat growing in her room. Leaves scattered about the area. T turned to me, and immediately began to babble.

" TAYE I SWEAR IT WASN'T MY FAULT OK IT KINDA WAS BUT I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID IT JUST HAP-" I put a hand over her mouth. " Girl, calm the hell down and tell me why there's a TREE growing in our house?" T took a breath as soon as I let go. " I dunno! My stupid plant wasn't growing so I yelled at it to grow… and then this thing sprouted up outta nowhere!" I put my hand on my chin. The tree seemed to keep growing, and I started to worry it take up the room at the rate it seemed to be going. " T… It's a long shot, but… Try to see if you can tell it to stop… It'd probably be real bad if the neighborhood knew about this…" I said with a sinking feeling in my gut. T nodded slowly, though her face seemed a bit worried. We were both hoping this would work.

" Uh… hey… Sorry 'bout earlier but can you stop growing now please…? You did a good job though…" T looked up at the tree, her voice meek. As if on cue, the plant stopped growing. Meanwhile, my sister and I stared dumbstruck at the tree. This was NOWHERE near normal. I don't remember my sister being able to do anything like this before. Unless she had turned into some mutant or something overnight, this was way out of our understanding. There was only one person I could think of who might of dabbled in this sort of thing. Call it intuition, but I had a feeling she could give us an answer to our problem.

" I think we need to talk to Lima, T…"

T nodded, but continued staring at me."… What?" I asked.

" 'Aight… But could you please tell me why you have a knife with you…?"

" Oh…" I looked at the piece of cutlery, feeling somewhat embarrassed I was rushing up to save my sister from a tree.

" It's nothing…"

Taye


	8. Short Circuit

**Short Circuit**

The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying!

Nothing described my surroundings better at the moment. The music boomed around me as everyone danced together on the club's floor. I felt life buzz around me. This? This was great. Good people, Good times.

What wasn't so great was that I seemed to have this unexplainable twitch in my body. I felt like I was on some sort of sugar rush, so my moves for the night seemed to jump between flailing to the beat, twitching, and the occasional actual dance move. It annoyed me to no end.

I looked to the DJ for the night. I heard an all too familiar beat playing, and like the rest of the club I got dragged into the groove.

Like, dragged guys. Someone was literally dragging me by the arm.

"Hey!" I yelped, slapping the offending hand away and pulling my arm back. I looked to see the face of the one responsible a few mere inches away from mine. The bloke was drunk off his ass, that's for sure. " Ey, mate. Hands off." I could smell the alcohol in his breath. " Eey, Baby… You looking alright… Whats'yer name?"

Ugh. Just what my night needed. " Piss off." I was in no mood to deal with some drunkard. Right now I wanted to dance. If Dare wanted to dance goddamn Dare was gonna dance. Too bad that guy kept pulling my arm. " Aw c'mon, don't be so meannnn…" Tug. " I jus' wanna talk" Tug " C'mon, stop being a frigid bitch already" Tug " Whatever you're just some ugly-ass weirdo with stupid hair, you bitch…"

THAT WAS ENOUGH.

" I SAID PISS OFF, YOU ASS!" I growled, winding up my arm for a good punch to his stupid mug. I felt a jolt of adrenaline in my veins, the anger getting my blood boiling. In my rage, I failed to notice the rest of the club had gone into a panic of sorts. It was only then I realized that my surroundings had gone completely dark.

"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" Yelled one of the employees. " Somehow our fuse box has blown. There's smoke and sparks, so we're afraid we have to get everyone out of here. Sorry, guys…" I hear a chorus of irritated groans and disbelief follow me as I shuffle out of the club along with the rest of its patrons. Oh well, the night was still pretty young. It's not like that was the only club in the city. I decided to hop over to another club. And another. And another.

What the actual hell.

No matter where I went, the same thing seemed to happen. Anytime I felt like energy was just bursting through my pores (or I wanted to punch someone) the power went out and everyone was forced to leave. I was sitting outside my fifth attempt for the night when my phone began to ring. I looked at the caller ID._ Lima_. Wonderful, first my clubbing was ruined and now my boss was calling me. Don't get me wrong; Lima's great, but jesus if I was called in for an assignment right now I was going to lose it)

I answered the call, trying my best not to sound bummed. " Hello?"

" Dare!" Lima's voice sounded urgent. " This will probably sound weird, but has anything… odd happened to you recently?…"

" Well," I began. " I was trying to go clubbing, but everywhere I go the power keeps dying." I couldn't hide my disappointment. I waited for a response for a few seconds. After a while, I couldn't help but chime in. " Boss? You alright? You're awfully quiet right now…"

The other end was silent. Did she hang up on me?

" Boss?"

" …Oh!" I heard Lima gasp on the line. " I'm sorry; I was just… pondering something, is all… but Dare…" I gulped. " Yes ?"

" I want you to come to headquarters ASAP. I think we all need a talk…"

She hung up, leaving me with nothing but more questions. We? Who's we? I didn't do anything wrong did I?

Either way, my club hopping was definitely done for the night.

Dare


	9. Fresh Air

**Thank You to everyone who's taken time to read and review this story :) I am happy you guys are enjoying it so far :) Now to answer some questions**

** Bryan: Yes, Dare's intro is up ( **_Short Circuit_** ) and Jaryn's chapter will be up soon as well (Jaryn's my fav girl, so I'm looking forward to it as well) I'm still deciding if I'll make the guys a major part of the story. **

**If anyone is interested in seeing the original blog for the story, which includes illustrations and whatnot, the link can be found at my profile :) If you have any questions or you just wanna talk about the story, feel free to message me . Until then, I hope you enjoy the story :)**

**Fresh Air**

Something was wrong. I could feel it.

I felt the cool evening air blow around me as I sat in meditation. Something was wrong, really wrong. Call it what you will: Intuition, ninja senses… I knew SOMETHING was wrong… I just didn't know WHAT was wrong.

My blood felt like I had a surge of energy running through it, as if every moment I had a full breath of the freshest air I've ever tasted and had the pleasure of breathing, despite the fact my mask was on. Anytime I moved felt like I was literally walking on air. I was suddenly able to run faster than Shinju. That's when I was sure something was wrong.

I heard a rustle come from one of the screen doors, and turned to find Shinju giving me a less than reassuring look. " There's someone here to see you…" I looked up at him. Technically, we weren't supposed to allow visitors. After all, Ninja were supposed to be a mystery, wrapped in a secret, cloaked in an enigma…

Well, regardless, I stood up. " Who?"

" And Agent from DCI… They don't look like they're playing around either…" I nodded, stepping into the main room.

I knew her.

She was the head scientist of Dance Central Intelligence; the one responsible for their time machine. Her name was Lima, if I remember correctly. She looked to me, her voice held a business like tone, though I could sense some underlying feel of….dread? Nevertheless, she approached me with confidence.

" Kichi, if I'm correct?" I nodded as she held one hand forward. " Lima." We shook hands, and she wasted no time in getting right down to the point. " Kichi, I know this is going to sound very odd… but has anything… unusual… happened lately? For instance… Body changes?… Anything extraordinary…? "

" Perhaps… What of it?" I wasn't going to let her know everything right away. I couldn't trust her just yet. Not completely. Not to mention Shinju was still within hearing distance.

" Kichi… I know this may not make any sense… and if I'm wrong, it can be like I was never here. Regardless, if you'd like answers, I could answer them at Dance Central Intelligence HQ… It's entirely your choice, of course, but I feel it best if you follow me."

This felt sketchy as hell. Still, she did hit the nail on the head. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know WHAT was wrong.

Maybe she knew.

" Fine."

I guess I wouldn't be seeing Shinju for a while.


	10. After Dark

**After Dark**

Why was I even out here? I felt like crap.

It was a normal night for Kerith and me: Some clubbing, drinking… Well, it was supposed to be anyways. Alas, I felt horrible again. My stomach seemed to toss and turn, despite not having any alcohol yet. I held onto my temple, trying to calm the throbbing. Kerith wasted no time checking up on me, gently tapping me on the shoulder. " Are you alright, dear sister…?" I couldn't help but feel snappy in my discomfort. " _Oh, yes, I feel fantastic_!" Kerith frowned at me disapprovingly, his eyes squinting. I probably deserved that. " Jaryn, I asked you if you were feeling well enough to go out tonight and you said you were." His tone was not unlike a parent scolding their kid. I thought I was the older sibling. " From the looks of it, you're not, are you?"

I grimaced. True, I DID say that earlier on in the evening. " I know, I just wanted to go out tonight… I honestly thought I was feeling better…" Kerith sighed, putting down his drink. " Let's go home, then. Last thing we need is you throwing up all over everyone." He helped me up off the seat, and we started our trek back to the penthaus.

" This is the third time this happened, Jare." Kerith supported me as we walked on into the night. " I know…" I groaned. God, I just wanted to lie down and sleep. " You sure you don't have, you know…" Kerith looked uncomfortable as I felt. " _A bun in the oven_…?"

I shot that down almost as fast as I whipped my head up. " Like hell I do. You should know better than that, Kerith." He shrugged a bit. " Well, this is the worst case of stomach flu I've ever seen. I'm simply listing down possibilities, dear sister." I felt my insides flip again with each step I took. " Well, I can assure you, that's not what's happening here."

As if I could properly explain it without him thinking I'm nuts, anyways.

We reached the tower in no time flat, and I ran to the bathroom in what seemed to be record time. " Jare, I'm gonna see if we have anything for your stomach." Kerith called from the kitchen. I would have answered him if I could, but I felt it coming on again. I leaned over the porcelain toilet bowl, and it happened once more.

I threw up sludge.

I wasn't kidding when I meant sludge, either. It all started a few days ago. I had thought it the work of some bad food, but even spoiled squid-ink spaghetti doesn't stay in one's system that long. Nor did it float away in wisps after I ejected it from my mouth. It was like tar: Dense, pitch black and quite frankly, disgusting. Even worse? At times it appeared to have… _stuff_ in it. Clusters of eggs… Writhing tentacles… I had almost screamed the first time I saw what almost looked like an EYE staring back at me before it melted away into thin air. If it wasn't happening to me, I would have written it off as some horrible horror story.

As scared as I was, I knew Kerith wouldn't believe me. Even if he did, what would we do? As far as I knew, some alien substance was in me and I could do nothing but hope it stopped the more I regurgitated it.

" Ker…" I called weakly from the bathroom. " Could you please bring me some water…? I think I need a drink…"

" Trust me honey, that water isn't going to do anything for that mess you have on your hands."

… That wasn't Kerith at all.

I looked up at towards the door frame of the bathroom. There stood Lima, one half of the annoying DCI crew that Kerith and I had to deal with over the past few months. The woman was a force to be reckoned with, I'll give her that. Still, that didn't answer my question. " What the hell are you doing in my house?" There was no way she could have gotten past Kerith. Our security system hadn't sounded off either.

" Whoa there, girl." Lima backed up a bit as I got up. " I doubt you're in any condition to be fighting anything. Especially when I can help you out with that 'problem' of yours." My eyes widened. She saw _that_? " Listen here, I don't need any of your help; It's an upset stomach, is all. And how the hell did you get into my house? There's no way… Kerith! KERITH!" I called out to my brother, but I received no response. " Keri-" I walked out to the living room area, only to catch my breath.

Everything seemed to be frozen in time. The clock wasn't ticking. The sink, filling a cup full of water for me, I presume, stood like a photo, water droplets still in midair. To my horror, my brother shared the same fate, standing like a statue as he looked at a bottle of medicine from the cupboard.

" Kerith?…" I went to him, trying to get his attention but to no avail. " Ker?!" Lima strode behind me, as if irritated. " Relax, hon. Your brother will be fine. I'm simply testing out this little gadget here." In her hand was a silver pocket watch, a slight purple glow emitting from it. " I told you before, I can help you. I didn't think you wanted this discussion with your brother as well, so I'm… keeping him out of the loop, if you will…" I turned towards her. I guess I had no choice.

" Fine, I'll hear you out, but you need to return my brother to normal right after." Lima nodded. " Well, I will admit I'm the one at fault for your current misfortune. However, I'll be willing to explain everything I know at the moment to you and the others if you agree to come to the little meeting I'm arranging. I'm not forcing you, I'm just saying that it's probably for your best interests… unless you want to keep having your leftovers look at you from the toilet, dear."

She strode away and out the door. " Tomorrow night; 6:00 PM. I look forward to seeing you there." She closed the door behind her, and my surrounding burst back to life. My brother finally looked up from the small bottle and practically jumped when he saw me next to him. " JESUS CHRIST! Jaryn, don't sneak up on me like that! I thought you were an intruder!" I looked at him; apparently whatever Lima had done prevented him from hearing our conversation. " Sorry," I apologized to him quickly, if only to ease his nerves. " Ker…?"

" Yes, dear sister?…"

" I'm going to be busy tomorrow night, I believe."


	11. The Gang's All Here

The Gang's All Here

It was time to get this show on the road.

It was 6:00 sharp, and everyone had arrived. Well, with the exception of one half of the blond haired, sharp tongued Glitterati Twins. If she didn't show up tonight, I wonder how she would handle that 'stomach problem' of hers. Sadly, it's hard to help someone who doesn't want any help. Better to focus on the bigger matter at hand.

I turned to the girls. I had gathered us into a conference room in DCI HQ. (Not that Rasa knew that.) " Ladies…" I began, my voice all business like. After all, I WAS about to lay something pretty heavy upon them. " I've gathered you all here for a good reason… You all share a common bond. Within the past few days, you've all experienced some unnatural phenomena… Unnatural phenomena I believe I can explain… To some extent…"

"Uh, Boss?…" I looked up from my clipboard to Dare. Her brows were furrowed in what seemed to be anxiety. " What do you mean 'to some extent'? That doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about all this…" I sighed. " Well, truth be told, I'm not completely sure what I've done myself, hon. I'll tell you everything I DO know…" I waited for the murmuring of the girls' voices to quiet down before continuing.

" As you all know, I'm the expert in Time Travel here at DCI. With the threat of Dr. Tan's army at end, I had no reason to continue using the time machine… But I did so, without Rasa's approval." Naturally, this was met with shock. " But Boss!" Dare exclaimed. " You know we aren't supposed to do ANYTHING that high risk without the big guy's approval!"

She was right. The Time Machine was a powerful tool. It wasn't meant to be trifled with, especially for something as silly as my own inquisitive whims. I looked down, unable to meet her eyes. " Indeed. Perhaps If I told him we wouldn't be in this mess or meeting right now."

"Mess…?" Taye began, lifting a brow in confusion.

" While exploring the time stream, I discovered some sort of energy leaking from it. I managed to release it into our world. Apparently the energy latched onto anyone that had some sort of contact with DCI." I paced a bit. " That being said, the energy seems to manifest itself into supernatural abilities: From breathing underwater…" I looked at Aubrey, who gave a soft nod. " To controlling plant life…" Lil T's focus never left me. " To even more… unpleasant side effects. Basically, you've all been affected by this energy, and I'm afraid until I find out how to fix it, we're going to have to work together to learn how to control it, and live with it."

As expected, the girls freaked out.

" Wait, so are we gonna die or somethin'? Cuz' that's not cool at all." Dare retorted. " Are you saying we're going to be stuck like this?!" Aubrey growled. " Boss… I can't say I'm happy about this either…" Emilia followed. Lil T looked to Taye in worry. " Yeah, Lima… This is real serious… You can't expect us to be all gung ho about something like this right away…" I held my hand up, silence following. " I… I know. I'll admit right here and now that this all my fault. I'm going to do my best to fix this, ladies, but I need your cooperation for this to work out. With all eight of us…"

" Whoa whoa whoa now. Lima, including you, there's only six of us…" Emilia babbled. I looked towards her. " Oh yes, I meant it when I said the energy latched onto whoever had ties to us. It seems to favor females, oddly enough… One of our guests is over there…"

"Guests?"

Kichi leaned against one of the posts behind me, her usual ninja garb replaced by a more urban, city-suited outfit. For some reason her face guard was still on. I guess a ninja needed to stay stealthy even in today's society somehow. " Wow, mate! You too?" Dare chirped. Kichi gave a solemn nod towards the group as Taye approached me. " Well, that's all fine and dandy, but who's number eight?" I frowned. They weren't going to like this.

" Well, when I meant every female with ties to DCI, I meant EVERY female…" I heard the door creak somewhat, and a collective gasp.

" I have a name, you know." A soft, all too familiar voice rang. Well, what do you know? Seems she came after all.

" JARYN!?" A collective yell rose from the room. " Oh hell no; Lima, you tell me right now that this is some sort of sick joke and…"

" Taye oh god she's gonna eat us alive or somethin-"

"Tia that is rude and you know it!"

" Ladies!" I yelled over the noise. Thank god DCI's meeting rooms were soundproofed. " I said I needed your cooperation here," I scolded them all, noticing Jaryn's evident mix of discomfort and annoyance with the whole situation. " We are all in the same damn boat here, and we're going to have to learn to live with one another. Now, you can drop whatever beef you have with one another right now, because I assure you unless we all work together to get through this, we are gonna be stuck like this."

Jaryn seemed to grow paler than she already was. I turned towards her. " You know, if you came earlier, It'd be easier to explain." She walked towards me, heels clicking against the floor. " I heard enough to know you're responsible for all this. I'll play along for now. I can't believe I have to hang around YOU people…" She held forward her hand, as if to shake mine, but Taye's hand quickly followed. " I don't necessarily approve of this, but I trust you Lima." Lil T put her hand forward as soon as her sister did, gazing at Jaryn with slight fear. A perfectly manicured hand entered the growing circle. " This better work out , Lima. I don't want to be part fish or anything," Aubrey snapped. " For once, I agree with Aubrey… Except the fish part…" Emilia groaned as she joined in. A baggy arm sock covered the rest of the hands now stacked upon one another. " Well boss, I hope we make this work then." Dare quipped, Kichi walking over and putting her hand into the group. I looked to the girls gathered in front of me. They trusted me enough to help them; the least I could do was return their gesture. I put my hand into the group as I felt the ghost of a smile upon my face.

" Well Ladies, I look forward to working with you."


End file.
